Emotions
by Irken Gir
Summary: One-Shot. JimAisha fluff. Aisha challenges Jim to explain the mysteries of love as she eats feel-good ice cream.


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Disclaimer: I wish I owned Outlaw Star. Then I'd be the envy of all my friends.

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Author's Note: After going back to re-write Break me, then Walk Away, I got back into the swing of Outlaw Star and I wanted to write for the fandom again. So I read some of my old stuff for inspiration, and out popped Muse with some ideas for a "fluffy" Jim/Aisha one-shot.

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Emotions

Jim Hawking yawned and rubbed his neck, making his way clumsily into the kitchen. He wasn't surprised at all to see Aisha there - after all, it was midnight, and she needed her midnight snack - eating straight from the tub of ice cream. "That's not sanitary, Aisha."

The Ctarl just grunted and dug her spoon back into the artificially flavored vanilla stuff in her lap. Jim frowned as he got himself a water bottle. She seemed … depressed. Aisha was never depressed; she was always the borderline annoyingly perky one.

"What's up, Aisha?" he asked, plopping his small body into a chair near her.

She just shrugged, and offered him a bite half-heartedly. He declined with a wave of his hand, and continued to watch her. After a while, Aisha seemed to change her mind about giving him the silent treatment. "Just boy troubles, Jimmy. You wouldn't understand," she added, emphasizing this by ruffling his hair. He pulled away and swatted at her hand, his brow furrowed.

"Is that all?"

"Whaddya mean?" she asked, cocking her head.

"I mean you're Aisha Clan-Clan. A proud Ctarl warrior like yourself shouldn't be sitting by herself in the kitchen eating ice cream over boys," Jim teased.

Aisha reverted to silence again for a moment, then shrugged. "Even the proudest Ctarl warriors need some time to mope around, kid."

"Why?"

"Because I'm giving up on love. I refuse to believe in it," Aisha stated, puffing out her chest as if this was something to be pleased with.

"You're … what?"

"I'm giving up on love."

"Do you know how … pre-teen chick flick that sounds?"

"Excuse me?"

"I mean you sound like a twelve-year-old Terran-" Aisha cut Jim off there with a sharp glare. "Sorry. Twelve-year-old _Ctarl _girl, I mean, who's just been rejected by her first beau-to-be," he explained.

Aisha just frowned at this. "I'm entitled to do what I please. I'm an adult, you know."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean it's rational," the Terran reasoned.

"Oh yeah? Well you explain to me why it's 'irrational,' _please,"_ Aisha challenged, crossing her legs and folding her arms over her stomach.

"Love is an emotion. You can't not believe in an emotion," he said, his tone implying this piece of information was widely known and anyone who wasn't familiar with it had just crawled out from under a rock. Or some cookie dough ice cream, in Aisha's case.

"Hmpf. I know plenty of people who don't believe in it."

"Oh, yeah? Who?"

"Uhh… Some old friends… back home. Yeah. You wouldn't know them," she retorted, seemingly pleased with this fib.

"Uh huh. Nice lying, Aisha." Aisha snorted, just as stubborn as always to get her way in a fight.

"Okay, then what about true love, huh? And how come people can fall out of it? They're not supposed to be able to do that," the Ctarl said, leaning forward, anxious to hear Jim's answer.

He thought about this for only a moment, then replied: "True love is … A fairy-tale, I guess you could say. That's just something romance novelists and movie directors made up to appeal to girls and women. As to why people fall _out _of love, think of it this way: Someone calls you stupid. How do you feel?"

Aisha furrowed her brow, confused. "Mad."

"Okay. You feel mad. Do you feel mad for the rest of your life? Or do other emotions take the place of anger?"

"Other emotions take its place," she replied meekly.

"That's right. Emotions don't last forever. They fade away, they're replaced, or you move on. See?"

Again, Aisha struggled to come up with an argument. She was losing, and she didn't like to lose. "Then why do people know what love is? How come they automatically assume any feeling they have is love?"

"What do you mean?" Jim asked, stumped by the sheer simplicity of her question.

"I mean if someone sees somebody else, and they like them, they're like 'Oooh! True love!' " Jim laughed as Aisha widened her eyes and clasped her hands together against her cheek in the typical woman-in-love style, as depicted by Hollywood.

"Well," he started, "if someone tell you they're sad, do they need to explain what sadness is?" Aisha shook her head, seemingly fascinated with Jim's answers. "It's pretty much the same concept. Humans, Ctarl, even Saurians-they all know what an emotion is without anyone having to describe it to them. The way the react to those feelings might be a little different, but the concept is universal. Now, love at first sight I don't believe in; that's lust. Lust, as I'm sure you know, is also an emotion, but it's somewhat tricky. It likes to pretend it's love, you see?"

Aisha opened her mouth to respond to the boy genius, then closed it. After a moment of pondering, she nodded, then grinned. "You're a smart kid, Jimmy." As she said this, she lifted her hand and tangled her fingers in his hair affectionately. He didn't pull free this time, just laughed and grinned back at his friend. She took her hand away, then stood. "Well, I'd better get to bed," she yawned, stretching out her slim, lithe body. Jim watched as her blue eyes closed, some of her white hair falling into them. "You should get some sleep too, kid."

Jim looked up at her only to see her leaning in. She touched his chin with the pad of her finger lightly, and pressed her lips to his forehead. When she pulled back, his face was a bright shade of pink. Laughing, Aisha walked off, waving a short good-bye. "Maybe when you're a little older, _James, _I can turn to you for some lovin'."

Jim's face darkened until it was the colour of Gene's hair. He sat for a moment, tapping his fingers on the table. He knew she was joking, but that wink she'd given him… With a sigh, he brushed it off, and began to clean up Aisha's ice cream mess.


End file.
